TOCs shaft Andrew's big idea

Despite depressing headlines about greedy TOCs increasing fares by 11% it's good to know that the All Line Rail Rover still offers good value for money.

Indeed, on his recent rail odyssey Lord Adonis felt moved to write:

"As for cost, I am expecting to do the whole trip, standard class, for £375... using a seven-day 'all-line rail rover'. This is a ticket no one seems to have heard of, perhaps because it is so poorly advertised."

Poorly advertised it may have been, but after all the media coverage surrounding Adonis' trip the All Line Rail Rover is better known now than ever.

So what better time for ATOC to increase the Rovers price by a massive 14.5% !

From 17th May the 7 day version of the All Line Rover will increase from £375 to an eye-watering £430.00!


And you can forget taking Adonis up on his idea of buying one so the kids can "get to know their own country". The childrens version goes up by whopping £39, from £245 to £284!

What a splendid way to take the wind straight out of the Transport Minister's sails!

Let the Eye be first to congratulate ATOC's new team for mastering their brief so quickly.

London TravelWatch struggles to make its point

London's travel watchdog has accused TfL and DafT of conniving in a shadowy 'backroom' deal.

In a badly written press release Sharon Grant, Chairwoman of London TravelWatch, said:
“We are appalled that when the go-ahead for the second phase of the East London Line extension was announced, no mention was made that passengers would be losing out in this way and that undertakings previously given were being abandoned. It is nothing short of deceitful: deliberately not telling the public is 'spin’ at its worst.”

At this point The Fact Compiler lost the will to live.

But if you travel to Victoria from Denmark Hill, Camberwell, Clapham, Wandsworth Road and East Dulwich you may still be interested so have a look yourself.

Meanwhile the Eye recommends that London TravelWatch invests in a course on press release writing.

UPDATE: Transport Briefing explains

Faith, tradition and reason

Old Mother Damnable has spoken!

"This Synod urges Her Majesty's Government ... to sustain employment opportunities, further environmental targets and strengthen future economic and social development by implementing the planning and development of a high-speed rail line from London to the North-West and Scotland".

The Fact Compiler cannot put it better than Lord Adonis himself:

"Now that the high-speed line has Divine sanction, nothing can stand in its way."

OFFICIAL: Hitachi out of Thameslink

As predicted by the Eye yesterday, Hitachi have thrown in the towel on bidding for the 1,200 new Thameslink vehicles.

This from their press release:

Hitachi Europe Rail Group today confirmed that it will not progress in bidding for the provision of new trains for the Thameslink service. By doing so, the company is able to continue its focus on current and future commitments.

Remember, you heard it here first!

DMUs 'r' Us delayed?

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
Specify in haste, procure at leisure...

...is the lesson for today!

Apparently all three bidders for the DMU contract 'brought forward' under the Chancellor's fiscal stimulus programme had different ideas of what ranked as compliance.

So they have all been given a chance to have another go in response to a blizzard of clarification questions from those wonderful folk who brought you the IEP.

At this rate we'll be lucky to have them delivered in time for CP5.

RPI hits minus figures

The UK is experiencing the first period of deflation since 1960, according to the Retail Prices Index.

In March the index fell to -0.4%, down from zero in February.

Doomed!

Help stop cable theft

This from Network Rail...

Network Rail is offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information leading to the conviction of cable thieves and anyone with information can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Bolt sheds light

Chris Bolt the outgoing chairman of the Office of Rail Regulation has defended NR's bonus scheme.

This from the FT:

Chris Bolt, of the Office of Rail Regulation, said it was “clearly important” that management at the company that owns Britain’s rail network was made to focus on meeting its targets.

If that's what bonuses are for, then presumably salaries are merely a reward for darkening the office door (or not).

The Fact Compiler wishes to offer his unreserved apologies to readers for having led them astray in recent weeks.

Obviously it's only large bonuses that keeps Network Rail senior management focused on the day job.

Perhaps they should keep the bonuses but surrender their evidently superfluous, but extremely large, salaries.

Thameslink trains shocker!

The bid process for the 1,200 new Thameslink vehicles goes from strength to strength.

Or so it would appear judging by the number of keyword searches that have delivered readers to this site.

Surprisingly several contained the terms: "Hitachi+thameslink+withdrawal".

Do readers know something we don't?

We are most definitely not amused...

***RMT to disrupt the Vic line Tuesday/Wednesday of this week***

Harwich for the continent, Frinton for the discontent

***Gone, gone, gone!***

UPDATE: This from Tom over at Blairwatch...

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Telegraph's site, a blogger is berating 'National Express' for *not* conducting East Anglian engineering works under cover of darkness.

Ah, you lose some, you lose some.

Notes and queries

This just in from J Peasmold Gruntfruttock...

Sir

Could you clarify some confusion over the illustration in your two latest postings.

Is that a member of the famed CoucherPender consultancy pictured with Sir Richard Branson and, if so, ought they to be wearing a high visibility vest when engaging in such dangerous activities?

Yours etc...

No and yes. And in that order.

Park and taken for a ride

Good news for Beardie Rail profits.

Car parking charges at Crewe Station are being increased today from £6 to £8.

As car parking charges are not regulated Virgin is of course free to charge whatever it feels the market will stomach.

However, chairman Sir Richard Branson may not have had rail passengers' stomachs in mind... judging by this photo from today's Mail on Sunday...




Any additional comment would be pure sour grapes!

UPDATE: This from David at Railtalk:

I think that you will find that the charges are only going up by £2.00 to £8.00, they have been £6.00 for quite some time.

Whilst any increase is unwelcome, pity the poor souls on the East Coast, who have to pay considerably more.

York for example is £12.00 per day. Rip off GNER prices, and National Express has carried them on.

Duly corrected, thank you David. The Fact Compiler's mind may have been on other things at the time of posting...

There may be troubles ahead...

Oh dear, oh dear.

Has there been a falling out between DMGT (Daily Mail and General Trust) and Network Rail?

Judging by the number of stories in today's Mail on Sunday it certainly appears so.

To quote just one:

"Ian Coucher was hired as deputy chief executive and Victoria Pender as head of government affairs. At the time, both were working for London Underground as ‘freelances’, via their consultancy Coucher Pender.

"The firm, registered to Ms Pender’s home in West Sussex, was also used as the conduit for the pair’s payments from Network Rail.

"Their freelance status allowed them to qualify for bonuses paid only to employees and entitled them to tax breaks, a situation that continued until 2007 when Coucher became chief executive. Ms Pender is believed to have retained her freelance status."

Perhaps NR should try suing for peace...

Groucho has the answer!

Telegrammed by Barry Spotter
I note that whilst tourists are being told to delete pictures of bus stations, government ministers are allowed to broadcast their travel movements on the internet.

Am I alone in spotting a slight hint of total f**king nonsense in this anti-terrorist bollocks?

Or is it just that the Police no longer know the difference between right and wrong?

Or perhaps, perish the thought, the entire Surveillance State serves a purpose that has nothing to do with the security of its citizens?

Oh sod this. I'm too annoyed to write any more.

I'm going to go and read Marx in readiness for the revolution!

Spot the difference with My Lord Adonis

An exciting new competition from the Eye!

Using your skill and judgement can you tell the biggest single difference between the following stations?

This from the Pilgrimage of Grice blog:

"Sheffield station is a real delight. It has been beautifully restored in recent years and has excellent retail and waiting facilities for passengers – open to a reasonable hour in the evening, unlike my recent experience at Southampton Central station."

Clue: One has barriers...

Two's company

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
So who are the lucky two?

Sources indicate that DafT has finished its deliberations and that just two now remain in the running for the South Central franchise.

Suppose we'll have to wait till the markets are informed on Monday... or buy the Sunday papers!

You and whose money?

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
According to a London Midland press release:

Train operator London Midland is investing £190m in a fleet of 37 Siemens Desiro Class 350/2 trains.

Funny, I thought some firm called Porterhouse or something owned those trains. Talk about biting the hand that funds you

And isn't that price a real blast from the past?

I can remember when you could buy a new Siemens EMU vehicle, give all the depot staff at Northampton a fish and chip supper and a taxi home and still have change from £1.3 million.

Aye, those were the days.

NX merger rumours

This from Transit...

NEG makes an impressive 70% gain as City rumours indicate a merger with Stagecoach is on the cards.

Expect the Competition Commission to be all over it like a rash.

Pilgrimage of Grice to end on Tory frontbench?

Telegrammed by Libby Fodder
Matthew Parris' piece in The Times yesterday on the Pilgrimage of Grice may be more telling than you realise.

It is rare for any transport minister to receive public plaudits and particularly unusual from these to come from someone as well plugged into the Westminster village as Parris.

As Parris pointed out, Adonis has a real passion for transport and genuinely loves the job. Who else would spend a week of their own time "on the cushions" actually meeting the great British public.

Adonis has impressed to date (apart of course from his peddling of the usual DafT deceits. Ed). And he numbers amongst his friends several key players on the opposition benches.

Indeed, in his previous role no less a figure than Tory Education spokesman Michael Gove said he'd happily keep him on under a Tory government!

Adonis has also been clever enough to avoid being drawn into the usual Westminster Punch and Judy show.

Of course he makes ritual attacks about how the Tories privatised the railways but even they now accept (the deranged Vulcan excepted) that Major's method of privatising BR was a disaster.

Clearly Adonis loves the job but could he survive a change of administration?

He already has form for crossing the House.

He started off as a LibDem before taking the new Labour shilling and once done it becomes habit forming - even Churchill managed to make a virtue of it.

Adonis is discreet about his aspirations but at the recent C4 Politics Awards he made it quite clear that he hoped his legacy would be bipartisan (or even tripartisan) support for high speed rail.

Were he to make the transition between administrations the benefits to the industry and transport as whole could be enormous. Allowing him to really develop a long term strategy.

It was Gordon Brown who made great play about producing a government of all the talents.

For Cameron it will be a necessity as we face the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

He could do worse than calling on Adonis.